Fugu Fish Of Death
Submitted by Healthy Foods and Eating Healthy Blog
While eating fish is recognised as being good for you, there is one type of fish you should never attempt to eat.
Fugu, otherwise known as the Puffer Fish, or Blow fish, is a Japanese speciality. It’s roe, ovaries, and liver are so poisonous that just one drop of the deadly toxin, Tetrodotoxin, very very quickly brings rapid paralysis and death.
Japanese homes don’t attempt to serve it, and a Chef must undergo lengthy and comprehensive training before being allowed to prepare the dish. However all it takes is a slip of the knife during preparation, and the poison can contaminate the flesh of the fish. Competent people can and do eventually make mistakes, so why put a loaded gun to your head? Never, never be tempted to eat this dish no matter how well you are assured that it is safe.
Unfortunately even with stringent precautions, the major cause of fatal food poisoning in Japan every year is still attributed to eating Fugu, which causes dozens of deaths. Don’t do it!
Personally, I would never eat in a restaurant with this fish on the menu. I’d be too worried about possible cross-contamination.
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March 26th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Just putting another spin on things. The Japanese do not share the extreme views that you do, in fact, they are known to scoff at foreigners with such extreme views. Many Japanese families will eat fugu as a celebratory thing, like the Chinese do with abalone and shark’s fin soup. While there are dangers surrounding fugu and it’s poison, and I do respect your decision not to eat it, I wouldn’t think that you should tell others to follow suit. Also, most of the fugu poisoning incidents happen in the outlying regions of Japan, probably by chefs that are not fully certified. Fugu is also allowed to be served in the US.